It was a cold fall night at UCSB and my friend Sydney and I were getting ready to go to the Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears Concert that was playing at Campbell as part of the fall arts and lectures series. Sydney had been raving about them for weeks, sending me their music through YouTube videos, posting about them on my Facebook and insisting that we get tickets and go. I decided why not? I love dirty blues and a good mo-town sound. Going to see Black Joe Lewis was one of the best concert decisions I have ever made. We entered Campbell Hall to find people quietly and orderly sitting down and listening as if we were at a Bach piano recital, not a fun and dare I say it, groovy upbeat blues concert. Black Joe Lewis himself is a hip and energetic character, with a sultry and soulful voice that pulls you in. The band consists of Bill Stevenson on bass guitar, Joseph Woullard on sax, Derek Phelps on trumpet, and Jason Frey on tenor sax. Together they are a truly hypnotic group, with a sound that is completely their own. Their music has a solid foundation of dirty blues and jazz with generous dashes of mo-town and even a little pop. Their music makes you want to shake your hips and do things you wouldn't otherwise do. Sydney and I were disappointed in the mundane crowd, so we decided to get up and dance, which we did with a small group of people that were in the back with us. Black Joe started the set with "Livin' In the Jungle" an upbeat song about dancing and feeling the "vibe" of the jungle. The song kicks off with solid vocals from Black Joe, who got really into the sound and was hoping the audience would do the same; we were in the back, but believe me there was no way we could have stopped dancing. "Livin in the Jungle" was just a small taste of the the musical wonders that were coming our way. The band played hits off their new album like "Booty City", "I'm Broke", "Stop Breakin' Down" and a very seductive song called "She's So Scandalous" that had every woman in the room, young or old wish they'd brought another pair of panties. Black Joe Lewis has a hypnotic effect on the audience; his charismatic dance moves and the enthusiasm of the band demand your attention and put a trance on your body making you move, like it or not. Halfway through the concert, Sydney, me, and a couple of other people just decided we were not doing Black Joe justice, and that it was not only necessary to dance, but critical to let people know that a band will give you what you give them. This truly great band was playing to a dead audience and me and a small group of people wanted to let the band know that there were some soul-loving, foot tapping, wild things in the audience. So, me in my leather shorts and Sydney in her leather jacket paraded with a group of other people down to the front of the stage and danced to one great number after the next. The versatility in Black Joe's music is really what separates him from the rest of the soul-singers of today; he gives old-school blues riffs and underground jazz a completely new sound, while still keeping it genuine and full of heart. Most of Black Joe's lyrics are written from personal experience, and the listener is able to hear every nuance of pain or happiness through each one of his songs. Maybe this is what makes Black Joe seem so accessible; he's like the cool guy that everyone wants to be, but instead of seeming unapproachable due to his incomparable talent, his music is so real and tangible that instead of feeling distanced from him as an audience member, you feel like he's singing directly to you- a hallmark of a great performer. To feel that intimate in a room full of people is truly something- during his "She's So Scandalous", I felt like I was getting seduced just watching him and hearing the strong intonation of the word "Scandalous" over and over again. You could compare Black Joe to an eclectic crossover between Ray Charles, Junior Kimbrough, Stevie Wonder, and John Legend, but quite honestly Black Joe is in his own genre. He has managed to bring back the mo-town sound in a revolutionary way, bringing together fans of all ages. It's artists like Black Joe Lewis that bridge the generation gap and prove that through all the uninspired music that is fed to us through every technological device, good, REAL music is still out there and needs to be heard.
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